


Ocean's Kiss

by iruusu



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iruusu/pseuds/iruusu
Summary: Sinbad was no stranger to the ancient lore of beautiful creatures plaguing his waters. Even so, the last thing he expected was to find a peculiar fish tangled up in his nets, and he never imagined that one pretty mermaid could ever be so much trouble.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I finally wrote the sailor/mermaid AU :,) I thought I'd be able to get out another chapter of Melt this week, but I was kind of... stuck lmao. I have part of it written, I just couldn't finish it on time, so I wrote this to make up for it ♡ 
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok.. im finally getting somewhere w the mermaid au!! but I had to rewrite the first chapter before I could do the rest lmao it was so old.. i have a second chapter now but I still have to finish and edit it so!! that will be up soon :')
> 
> im reuploading it like this bc I changed a few things but.. new content soon.. I promise

In all of his time spent sailing on the water, Sinbad had seen more of the world than any normal man ever could've fathomed. He had broken land on forgotten islands, raided decaying shipwrecks (laden with riches, of course), and rediscovered mythical creatures of each and every fathomable kind.

And yet, not once in all of his time spent on the sea had Sinbad ever once seen a mermaid.

In spite of all of the things that he had seen, Sinbad was not the sort to fall victim to the lore of fables and fairy tales. He had been alive for far too many years (a thought that made him wince) to allow children’s stories to sway his convictions. Had he seen one, then perhaps Sinbad might've believed in the existence of such a creature, but having spent the majority of his life on the water without having ever once laid eyes on one of the elusive creatures, Sinbad’s hope of ever finding one had died with his naïvety. He had, eventually, conceded to the belief that mermaids were nothing more than the thing of legends.

“…Sin,” Ja'far began slowly, voice cracking an octave in a manner that was very unlike his typical air of composure as he entered the main cabin. “Do you believe in mermaids?”  
  
Sinbad guffawed as he turned from the desk to face him. _“Mermaids?_ Any sailor would be a fool to give in to such child’s play, you’ve said so yourself.” Then, he saw the paleness of Ja’far’s features, the way that he bit his lip, and watched how his dark eyes darted to the side as if he were skirting around the issue. “…why do you ask?”  
  
“There’s…uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “There’s something you should see.”

So, for Sinbad to walk out onto the deck and find a mermaid splayed across it was something that he  _never_ could've anticipated.

“You weren't kidding,” Sinbad murmured, low voice softened with disbelief as he looked upon the mermaid. Were Sinbad’s thoughts more coherent at the time, he would've supposed the creature to be called _merman_ instead, for the flatness of its chest was very clearly not of a woman, but as he gaped at the thing, technicalities were the last thing on Sinbad’s mind. The creature thrashed wildly in its confinement, slamming its powerful tail against the wooden planks with a resounding thud, fractured sunlight glistening in all hues of red and gold off of deep, shimmering scales, with long, delicate fins draped all across the wooden deck. Certainly, this was a mermaid if he had ever seen one.

“Yeah,” said Ja’far from his side, unusually taken aback at the sight. “It was caught in the nets when I came out,” he explained, “so I hauled it in.”

Sinbad nodded, and spared a moment to study the mermaid where it lay, and then, his eyes grew wide. Sunlight reflected off of layers and layers of gold jewelry, the dark-haired youth was drowning in it, thick and bulky around his arms and throat, dangling from his ears and ornamenting his ebony hair, glistening even from a tiny stud in his elegant nose.

It was completely bizarre to Sinbad; how could a simple creature such as this possibly acquire _so much_ gold? There must've been hordes of gold down where he lived, perhaps shipwrecked, perhaps discovered by the species itself. Perhaps this particular creature was royalty of some sort; he certainly looked the part, and he was dressed for it too. Sinbad briefly entertained the thought of asking, but common sense stalled him. Would a mermaid even speak the same tongue as Sinbad did?

“Well,” Sinbad stammered, “I believe you now.” He had been skeptical before, but _this_ was rather difficult not to believe.

“What should we do with it?” Asked Ja’far, eyeing the mermaid stretched out before then with a critical eye. Sinbad had learned that, nowadays, there was little that could surprise his trusted first mate. However, _mermaids_ had been completely off the table—their crew was the sort to laugh at any fool who could ever fall for such a tall tale (save for Yamuraiha, who had always maintained her beliefs, despite their teasing). Now, it seemed as if _they_ were the only foolish ones.

Sinbad stared silently down at their captive mermaid, who had remained unresponsive up until that point, when it suddenly gave a yelp of pain as it curled in on itself. The poor thing was in a rather pitiful state—the coarse ropes or the net cut into pallid skin and tangled hopelessly into the mass of his inky hair. He shot Sinbad a teary-eyed carmine glare, brows drawn together and lips pulled tight against his teeth. Even furious and scared, the creature was beautiful. Sinbad’s eyes softened at it.

“We could sell it,” Ja’far offered, quietly. “A mermaid would go for a good price at auction.”

“No,” Sinbad asserted, shooting Ja’far an incredulous look. “No, we aren't going to sell him. I’m not that cruel. We don’t need such money, anyways.”

Ja’far sighed. “Suit yourself.”

Carefully, Sinbad knelt before the writhing mermaid, who flinched back at the sight of him. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” Sinbad promised as he unsheathed the blade at his hip, and, despite the mermaid’s thrashing in alarm, sliced clean through the coarse nets. When the tension was freed, the mermaid stilled, and sighed softly in relief as Sinbad worked to unwind the long, muscular tail from its trap within the ropes, taking care around the deepest lacerations. The mermaid was silent and aware, even as Sinbad gently tugged his long, glossy hair free from the nets.

“Is that any better?” Sinbad asked.

The mermaid sat up slowly, with his glittering red tail still dripping crimson onto the cedar paneling of the deck. He rubbed bony fingers over his pale, gold-covered wrists, bruised and swollen from their temporary confinement, and he gazed up at Sinbad from the corners of his scarlet eyes. Slowly, he nodded.

“Good,” said Sinbad, smiling. He extended a hand to brush calloused fingers gently against the side of the mermaid’s cheek, and his breath hitched at the sudden contact.

“Sin,” called Ja’far from behind, “I think you should be more careful with that thing—”

“Relax, Ja’far,” said Sinbad, looking back to grin at him. “He’s totally harmless.” As if to prove his point, Sinbad placed his palm flat against the creature’s cheek, feeling the smooth, wet skin, carding a hand through the impossibly long, drenched hair. Sinbad touched the mermaid’s cheek with a tender caress, tilting the pretty face to better meet his gaze. “Such a lovely creature would never lay a hand on me—”

Not a moment after the words had left his mouth, there was a painful “thwap” when that tail, glittering beautiful and iridescent under the light of the rising sun, rose up and smacked the sailor hard across the face. Sinbad cried out with a yelp of agony as he fell back, hand clutched against his throbbing cheek, shocked at the turn of events. This was not something that often occurred when Sinbad played his charm with women—but then again, this was no woman, or even a human being.

“Ha! Did you really think I’d fall for a dumb move like that?” The mermaid cawed, crossing pale, slender arms over his bare chest, looking rather satisfied at his act of retaliation.

Sinbad, however, could only stare, awestruck as the throbbing in his cheek grew in its intensity. “W-What?”

“Humans are all the same,” the mermaid scoffed, with a triumphant, though somehow mischievous grin gracing pink lips. “So _stupid_. What, did you think I’d fall in love with you after you _saved_ me? From your own nets?” The mermaid laughed, tossing long, black hair back over one shoulder, shining like starlight in the blazing sun. “Get over yourself!”

“I should have known,” Ja’far sighed from behind them, reaching up a hand to massage his temples. “You can never trust a mermaid’s trickery, Sin.” Though, it would've been hard to blame the creature for the slap. Sinbad _did_  kind of deserve it.

“Oh, there was no trick,” the mermaid assured, outstretching his long, slender figure in the sun. “You really hurt me, and I was stuck. The blood is all real,” and, to prove his point, he thumbed one of the open wounds in his tail and showed off the red staining his fair fingertips. “So thank you for setting me free, I guess. But it's still your fault that I was stuck to begin with, so I guess there’s no thanks necessary, huh?”

“I should have _left you_ there,” Sinbad growled, gritting his teeth. “You don’t deserve my sympathy.”

“I don’t want your sympathy,” said the mermaid. “But I had it for a minute there, didn't I? You really are full of yourself.” He jabbed a thumb in Sinbad’s direction, who made a sound much akin to that of a wounded animal. “I hope he doesn't talk like that to everyone he thinks is pretty.”

Ja’far answered with a wry smile. “Unfortunate, isn't it?”

“Please Ja'far, I can't deal with this from _you_ too,” Sinbad groaned. Not right now, he couldn't handle the _both_ of them ganging up on him like this. “But _I_ am not full of anything. Unlike you,” he said, lips curling in disdain as he rose, slowly, to his full height once again. “If I had known that you would be such an insolent brat, then I never would’ve saved you.” It served Sinbad right, for trying to be kind to this ungrateful creature; he should’ve known that it only would’ve brought him suffering in return.

“Whatever makes you feel better,” said the mermaid, pretty pink lips curling upward into a deadly sweet smile.

Sinbad clenched his fists and took a slow, deep breath. _God_ , this fish was a brat if he had ever seen one. Sinbad typically considered himself a patient man, but after mere moments of this he felt like he had aged a decade. For a brief moment, his mind went back to Ja’far’s words from before.

 _We_ _could sell it._

But just the thought alone brought a sickness to Sinbad’s stomach. No matter what the profit of pawning an exotic mermaid, no matter how his beauty would earn him an especially handsome sack of coins, no matter how _insolent_ the creature was, Sinbad could never do it. That was a fate too cruel for even the most irritating of creatures, even if it was this one. Besides, there were always other ways to find out what he wanted.

“Alright then, _sweet little fish_ ,” Sinbad simpered as he came closer, leaned down and cupped a hand beneath the mermaid’s cheek, jerking his face up to look at him. Sinbad stepped a heavy boot onto his beautiful, shimmering tail, holding it down to keep himself from another nasty fall (and he _didn’t_ pay attention to how the mermaid cried out in pain). “What’s your name?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the mermaid asked, smiling up at him with cheek, but when Sinbad’s expression did not shift the mermaid’s delicate features grew more somber, and he swallowed. “Judal. My name is Judal.”

It was a rather exotic name, one that suited his pointed features, the prowess in his form, the regal beauty in his shimmering tail. Sinbad wished he didn’t feel bad for him.

“Then tell me, Judal,” he went on, watching at the way the mermaid gulped with a growing sense of dread. “Where did you get all of those pretty gold trinkets?”

A look of incredulity rose on the mermaid’s features at the question, one almost _wounded_ at a question so superficial, as if it were wasting his time. With a frown, he wrenched up his powerful tail and flicked it to the side, sweeping Sinbad’s legs out from beneath him with an obnoxious laugh as the man landed with a painful thud.

“Not a chance, Stupid Pirate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im crying i accidentally deleted all the comments when i posted the new chapter im so upset jdhakdhs oh well.. i guess I'll just get new ones eventually.. skahksjs please comment it'll make me feel better lmao


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